Classic

Formula Supervee driver Marc Crocetti sent me some photo’s of his 1971 Triumph T100 R that he turned into a Redbull Cafe Racer. He purchased it a year ago from a friend who had the Triumph in numerous boxes and hadn’t been ridden for about 12 years, prior to that it was used as a dirt bike for 15 years. It seemed like a big project but Marc had the vision to turn this bike into something special. He started with a BSA starfire gas tank and extending it 4 inches, then he added a Ducati style seat that he widened 2.5 inches at the front to fit the Triumph frame. It also has Ceriani front forks that were lowered 2.5 inches, a Honda 450 front wheel that he drilled out for better brake cooling and a fiberglass front fender that looks very Dunstall in style. Then he rebuilt the engine, the head, the transmission, clutch and primary drive. Marc even did the Red Bull paint job himself, inspired by his love of motorsport (we bet he consumed a can or two working late in his garage as well). By the looks of it we think this Red Bull Triumph will really give you wings.

These pics were taken at the Audi Museum in Munich. It’s a stunning 1939 US 250 DKW. The German company DKW where once the largest manufacturers of motorcycles in the world. By 1928 they were building some 65,000 engine units annually, and DKW engines could be found powering some 60 German marques of the interwar period. They soon joined Audi, Wanderer and Horch to form Auto Union in the 1930s, merging again in the 1950s with Victoria and Express to form Zweirad-Union, which in turn was absorbed by Sachs in 1965. DKW motorcycles usually used two-stroke engines and were technically ahead of their time (like most German motoring companies). To view more amazing bikes from the BMW museum check out Stefan’s flickr page.

Everyone seems to be riding on the Steve McQueen gravy train these days. Why wouldn’t they, his name sells better than sex does. Now Bell have released a replica of the helmet worn by the US Team in the 1964 ISDT (International Six-Day Trial) and the most famous member of this team was ‘The King of Cool’. These classic Jet helmets are individually hand painted to order which explains the price tag of over $A600 (which is still a lot cheaper than a Ruby Atelier). They can be purchased through the english store Grand Prix Legends.

We recently received a message from one of our readers saying we had never featured any bikes from Benjie’s Café Racer (BCR) and at first I thought he was wrong, until I did a search. Well, you are damn right and it’s about time we did. Benjie Flipprboi is one hell of a bike builder and we can’t believe this is the first Café Racer we have featured from him. The pictured bike is a 1969 Honda CB350 named ‘El Poquito’ (the little one). Benjie created virtually everything on the bike including the the gas tank, seat, stainless steel clip-ons and rear sets, plus most of the remaining parts of the bike are all hand fabricated.

This sexy candy red Moto Guzzi V7 Sport was restored and classically modified by Rick Manning and his crew at Combined Design. Built in limited quantities from 1972-1974, the V7 Sport was a ground breaking motorcycle, a factory café and one of the most famous Guzzi‘s ever made. As one of only 3,500 or so production V7 Sports made, Rick knew he had a very special machine and decided to treat it that way. Of course he added some custom touches including the spectacular House of Kolor candy apple red paint laid down by Craig Ellis at Paintworks. Although the exhaust is period correct, as is the dual-disc front end, a factory kit installed by the original owner after Guzzi made it available in 1974. Overall the bike is absolutely stunning and we are green with envy, or should I say we are seeing red? For more from Combined Design check out their previous Guzzi project called Li’l Red. [Via Motorcycle Classics]

This beautifully restored 1976 Honda CB550F Super Sport sat unfinished, perfectly stored in a garage for 12 years before Larry Pearson convinced the owner to part with it. The previous owner, a very talented machinist had already done some work on the vintage road racer. Like a perfect era-correct Kerker exhaust, laid down rear shocks and made almost all of the beautiful aluminum engine covers, the rear sets, the ventilated rear brake hub, the fork brace, clip-ons, muffler hanger and more. Then Larry built the tail section from scratch using the gas tank’s rear half as a mold (genius). He also made the seat, built all the mounts for the fairing and then painted it to his picture perfect standard. It appeared in Cycle World as the “American Flyer” (Aug. ’04) and more recently it took second place in it’s class at the ’08 Legend of the Motorcycle (1/2 point out of first place). We love this Honda CB Cafe Racer and we look forward to sharing Larry’s next project with you. [If you have a project for Larry contact us and we will give you his details]

Walt Siegl built this amazing panhead chopper for the artist, Arthur Sordillo. Walt is a motorcycle builder out of New York City who has been riding and building Harleychoppers, bobbers, and race bikes in the old school style for more than 20 years. When we say old school, we mean he makes pretty much every part by hand. This Sordillo Salt Flat was part of the art exhibition “Oldskool — a survey of 20th Century Motorculture,” curated by the painter Gregory Johnston. Walt still road races V-Twins and is constantly surprising people with his amazing eye for custom bike building. To see more of Walt’s work check his impressive gallery.

Hank Young came onto the scene in 2002 by turning up to Daytona Beach Biketoberfest on a bike he built called ‘The Flying Pan‘, a bike which was widely praised in the worldwide motorcycling press. In 2002, he made his “hobby” official and started Young Choppers & Hot Rods. Now Hank specializes in bringing together the vital spirits of motorcycling and hot rodding heritage with technical innovations to create timeless expressions of automotive vision to inspire and thrill us. We love this mean, low and green Harley Davidson. For more pics of this tribute to the past check out this gallery.

Ian Halcott from Twinline Motorcycles in Seattle has always had a passion for Japanese motorcycles. This awesome CB750 was one of Ian’s first custom projects. He spent almost a year perfecting this bike. Here’s a taste of some of the work on this beautiful cafe racer. A genuine Yoshimura pipe, a glass airtech bimota style tank, the seat was fabbed out of 20 gage steel, they built a fresh motor, powder coated the frame gold, reservoir shocks and lots more. Check out his website to see more of Twinlines amazing creations. [Ian tells me that he’s going to update his website soon but keeps finding a wrench in his hand instead of the computer mouse.]

We were sent this CB1000 by one of our readers, Nik from Moscow. He built a lot of the bike himself. Nik hand made the clip-ons, tach cover and even the exhaust cans with titan pipes from Japan. It also has Brembo calipers, TSS shocks and a radial front master cylinder from a GSX-R1000. Unlike the popular CB550 and CB750 you don’t see many CB1000’s done cafe racer style. It actually makes a mean looking modern cafe racer and we take our helmets off to you Nik. [Unfortunately Nik crashed this bike 2 weeks after completing it. We hope it wasn’t too bad mate].